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TOKYO (AP) — Concerns about the coronavirus outbreak's threat to the world economy grew Saturday, even after President Donald Trump denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a “hoax" cooked up by his political enemies.

China’s manufacturing plunged in February by an even wider margin than expected after efforts to contain the virus shut down much of the world’s second-largest economy, an official survey showed.

The survey, coming as global stock markets fall sharply on fears that the virus will spread

A person has died in Washington state of COVID-19, state health officials said Saturday, marking the first such reported death in the United States.

State officials issued a terse news release announcing the death, gave no details and scheduled a news conference.

Health officials in California, Oregon and Washington state worried about the novel coronavirus spreading through West Coast communities after confirming three patients were infected by unknown means.

The patients — an olde

Area hospital officials say they’re receiving regular updates about the spread of the COVID-19 virus from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

That data about the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, includes the number of current cases (more than 82,000 worldwide, with about 2,800 deaths) and what hospitals can do to help stop its spread.

However, the public also should take measures to minimize their own exposure to the coronavirus and other illnesses, said Dr.

A total of 12 early voting locations in McHenry County will be open by Tuesday for the March 17 primary election.

On Monday, four locations will open: the McHenry County Administration Building, 667 Ware Road; Country Inn and Suites, 600 Tracy Trail in Crystal Lake; Lake in the Hills Village Hall, 600 Harvest Gate and McHenry City Hall, 333 S. Green St.

All four locations will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 9 through 13, 9 a.m.

Raising pink cards in the air to signify “yes” votes, McHenry Township residents at a special electors meeting Friday voted to keep the senior bus service for another year.

The service was in danger after McHenry Township Trustees Bob Anderson, Steve Verr and Mike Rakestraw voted last summer in favor of eliminating the door-to-door transportation services for senior and disabled residents.

• Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories showcasing the opinions and policies of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the 14th Congressional District.

The seven Republican candidates running in the 14th Congressional District met with the Northwest Herald’s editorial staff in the past week and were asked what federal issue or issues were most important to them.

Ted Gradel

“[House Speaker Michael Madigan’s leadership] has led to an enrichment of the rul

Lennar Corp. recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of its new model at Legend Lakes in McHenry.

It was a different argument with the same result this week for Scott Peters, the Holiday Hills man serving a 135-year prison term for shooting a pair of McHenry County Sheriff’s deputies, one fatally, in 2014.

A unanimous vote by the 2nd District Appellate Court of Illinois on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s denial of Peters’ request for a new trial, rejecting his claims that his conviction was the result of fraud, misrepresentation and suppression of evidence.

The decision comes almost exactly two years after the 2

McHenry County College trustees approved a tuition increase Thursday amounting to $1.50 a credit hour for the 2020-21 school year.

The tuition rate currently is $126.75 a credit hour, meaning the increase will make the new tuition and fee rate $128.25, or a 1.18% net increase.

MCC officials estimate that the school will receive about $159,072 in net revenue from the tuition hike.

In the agenda packet, MCC wrote that its tuition still will be below the average tuition and fee rate expe

CHICAGO – A spike in crime on Chicago's rail system and some recent high profile outbursts of violence has prompted the city's police department to put 50 more officers in trains and on platforms and assign four detectives to investigate nothing but Chicago Transit Authority crimes, officials announced Friday.

Hours after the new security plan was unveiled, Chicago police said an officer shot a person on the platform of a CTA station in the Chicago’s River North neighborhood.